Targeted Attack Against Aramco Was Aimed to Stop Oil Production

By Nofar Gueta | December 12, 2012

According to a report by the New York Times, the attack against Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, was meant to stop oil and gas production. The high-profile attack occurred in August this year, causing a considerable damage to the company, but failing to gain what seems to be its initial purpose.

Aramco’s vice president, Abdullah al-Saadan, commented on the attack on Al Ekhbariya television, revealing the attackers’ intention: “The main target in this attack was to stop the flow of oil and gas to local and international markets and thank God they were not able to achieve their goals”. According to Saudi Interior Ministry Major General, Mansour al-Turki, the attackers were an organized group that operated from different continents.

“Shamoon”, the virus behind the attack, is considered to be a destructive malware that spreads through the network and wipes the machine’s hard drive. According to publications, the malware had damaged about 30,000 computers, and caused the company to shut its internal network down for more than a week.

Saudi Aramco is one the world’s leading oil providers, with a yearly production of 7.9 billion oil barrels (as of 2010). At that scale, it is hard to imagine what overall damage could have been caused if the attack would have been successful.